Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric propulsion assembly for an aircraft having a novel design for cooling the power electronics system thereof.
The invention also relates to an aircraft provided with such an electric propulsion assembly.
Technical Background
The aeronautical industry is a technical field that is constantly evolving and always seeking technological advancements. It is within this context that current research work seeking to reduce the environmental impact of air transport, notably noise and the emission of greenhouse gases falls.
In this context, the concepts of mechanical/electrical hybrid drive or all-electric drive are very promising. Thus, small airplanes such as two-seat private airplanes, all of the propulsion of which is provided by electrical power, are known.
The need to procure higher propulsion powers for larger airplanes results in a significant increase in the amount of heat dissipated by the power electronics systems used to manage and control the amount of electrical energy delivered to the electric drive.
Nowadays there are various technical solutions for cooling power electronic systems.
Thus, power electronics systems incorporating cooling systems using water or even using refrigerant of two-phase type are known.
However, all of these solutions of the prior art are penalizing in terms of the additional weight (fluid, circulatory system, etc.) that they add to the power electronics systems.
It is also known practice to use one or more blowers to remove the heat generated by a power electronics system.
However, such a solution cannot be applied to the field of aeronautics because of the significant additional weight that recourse to such a solution for removing the heat dissipated by a power electronics system of a propulsion unit of a large sized aircraft would have.
In addition, the weight of the various wiring used to supply electrical power or to transmit the electrical control signals, for example, is a significant factor in the overall weight of the propulsion unit, this weight penalizing the payload of the airplane.
It would therefore be beneficial to define a propulsion unit that had a novel architecture for cooling the power electronics system thereof and that also limited the weight of the wiring in general and the electric power supply wiring in particular.
The present invention seeks to alleviate the various disadvantages set out hereinabove by proposing a propulsion unit that is particularly simple in its design and mode of operation and that allows effective cooling of the power electronics system thereof.
Another object of the invention is to reduce the weight associated with the wiring of the propulsion unit.